CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Though Quasimodo, the twisted, titular protagonist of Victor Hugo's tragic classic "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" is one of the most enduring characters in world literature, it seems, from Hugo's perspective at least, the guy has gotten too much press.

Originally called "Notre-Dame de Paris" in the first French publication of 1831, an English translation in 1833 changed the title to put the emphasis on the lonely bell-ringer, seeing as it's easier to identify with a person than gargoyles and flying buttresses.

Hugo objected to the swing of the spotlight away from his beloved Gothic cathedral.

A passionate preservationist, the author served on committees dedicated to preserving France's old buildings and, writes medieval historian Alex Novikoff, railed against "the architectural 'vandals' who were tearing down medieval structures across the country in the name of progress and profit."

Long passages of the novel, Novikoff continues, are devoted to "the neglected marvels of Paris's forgotten past."

"Our fathers had a Paris of stone; our children will have a Paris of plaster," Hugo wrote.

Leave it to a Disney musical to restore the Cathedral of Notre Dame to its rightful place at the center of Hugo's historical romance.

In the "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," the season opener for Great Lakes Theater playing in repertory with "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a 16-person choir is the personification of the medieval monument, the voice of Notre Dame itself.

At Great Lakes' Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square, members of the chorus will join a company of 19 actors onstage, a combination sure to produce a formidable wall of sound.

"Where most musicals rely on a cast of roughly 20 to create vocal strength and harmony," says music director Joel Mercier, " 'Hunchback' doubles the voices you hear to achieve the richness and beauty of a massive cathedral choir."

In every city the show plays, members of the chorus aren't professional actors but come from local community choirs.

The Great Lakes production, directed by Victoria Bussert, was built in Boise, Idaho, this summer. Initially, she and Mercier reached out to area choir directors to find willing vocalists. The only sound they heard in answer, however, was crickets.

"The leaders of those choirs were not particularly interested in helping us out," says Mercier with diplomacy.

That meant holding open auditions and building "Hunchback" choir from scratch. "We were all a little terrified," Mercier says. But unlike Hugo's novel, where Quasimodo's Gypsy love Esmerelda is hanged, this story has a happy ending.

An open call for singers produced a veritable buffet of talent, an energetic collective of eager amateurs made up of high-schoolers to retirees.

"It was so moving," says Bussert. "We had a father-daughter team in Boise."

It was easier to find Notre Damers in Cleveland, and for that, they have Marc Weagraff to thank.

Bussert, head of the music theater program at Baldwin Wallace University, reached out to Weagraff, associate professor of voice and choral studies and chairman of the voice faculty at BW. Would he and his kids be interested in participating in the show?

His response? "Let's do it!"

Weagraff is preparing students, majoring in everything from composition to music therapy, and a smattering of alumni for their Great Lakes debut. They'll have six rehearsals before he hands them off to Mercier, who will integrate them into the existing cast, headed by BW alum and Strongsville native Corey Mach as Quasimodo.

"For a lot of these kids, this is a big deal to be involved with a professional production," says Weagraff.

It's a big deal for the teacher, too.

"This is what we hope for," he says. "This is the direct application of what they're learning in school." The very essence, he adds, of "putting your education to work."

Matthew Pitts, a junior music theater major who sailed through the air as a Jet in BW's production of "West Side Story" last fall, doesn't mind the comparatively undemanding choreography of the production: some light sitting, standing and a lot of watching, hardly the stuff of Jerome Robbins.

"They're costumed in choir robes," says Weagraff. "They have the stands and music with them, so it really maintains that feel of a choir as opposed to a theatrical ensemble." (Their costumes are gray, like stone.)

Pitts, a tenor and a member of Weagraff 's BW Singers, relishes the opportunity to really dig into the music, something he says can't always do when he's thinking about executing a tricky dance move.

A laser focus on the score isn't just a consequence of blocking, but a necessity. According to all involved, composer Alan Menken's harmonies and rhythms are as imposing as the soaring turrets of Notre Dame.

"It's literally one of the hardest harmony shows I've ever taught in all my years of musical theater," says Mercier. It's harder, he says, than "Les Miz," produced with Mercier as music director at Great Lakes in 2014.

Once of the most daunting aspects of the score is the entr'acte, the musical bridge between Acts 1 and 2 usually performed by the orchestra. In "Hunchback," the job falls to the choir -- and did we mention it's sung in Latin? (Scholars of the language should not listen too closely, says Mercier, ever the diplomat.)

Pitts and choir member Mackenzie Meyh, a freshman music theater major from Pine Beach, New Jersey, who played Esmeralda in a community theater production in her hometown, are doing their best with thorny pronunciations.

"It's a challenge," says Meyh, "but I wouldn't say it was as hard as learning the music itself."

"I would agree," says Pitts.

(When was the last time you heard of a score so intricate, it was harder to master than a dead language?)

Even more difficult than the Menken, says Meyh, might be staying in character while Quasimodo and Esmeralda are persecuted by the townspeople.

"It's gonna be hard for me not to be on the edge of my seat -- maybe I'll cry. I don't know what's gonna happen!"

She's joking, at least about the tears.

"Part of the challenge is sticking to your character," says Weagraff, "and not allowing yourself to get swept up as an audience member."

It's not easy being stony.

The following listings and descriptions are based on information provided by the theater and the critic's own notebook.

Fall repertory

Saturday, Sept. 30-Saturday, Nov. 4, Hanna Theatre: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Peter Parnell. Based on the Victor Hugo novel and songs from the Disney film. Directed by Victoria Bussert. Midwest premiere. (Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29.)

As the bells of Notre Dame's cathedral sound in 15th-century Paris, Quasimodo -- a deformed, captive bell-ringer -- escapes his jailer Frollo to join city's Feat of Fools. Quasimodo is rejected by every reveler except the beautiful Esmeralda, who captures his lonely heart.

A handsome captain and Frollo are equally enthralled, and, as they vie for her attention, Frollo embarks on a malevolent mission to destroy Esmeralda's Gypsy clan and take her for himself. It's up to Quasimodo, an unlikely hero, to save the day.

A collection of lovers and a rustic troupe of would-be actors become playthings for a group of otherworldly sprites in Shakespeare's timeless tale of midsummer madness. The play features all the Bard's greatest comic devices: mistaken identity, mismatched lovers and mischief-making fairies. No wonder Great Lakes has produced it six times in its history, most recently in 2010.

When successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon awakes in a secluded home, rescued from a car crash by Annie Wilkes, his "No. 1 fan," his life becomes stranger than his fiction.

While he convalesces from his crippling injuries, Annie secretly reads the unpublished manuscript of his new novel and becomes enraged upon discovering that he has killed off her favorite character, Misery. When Annie demands a rewrite, Paul quickly realizes that the only way to avoid an unhappy ending is to outwit the sociopathic bibliophile before she breaks more than his ankles. (Crunch!)

Saturday, March 31-Sunday, April 15, Hanna: "Macbeth." Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Charles Fee. (Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30.)

Never cross a woman with a plan. Join Lady M and her ambitious spouse in Shakespeare's epic collision of politics and magic, where specters and riddles foretell the futures of kings. (Remember, there'd be no "House of Cards" without it.) But beware: "Something wicked this way comes."

Saturday, May 5-Sunday, May 20, Hanna: "Beehive: The '60s Musical." Created by Larry Gallagher. Directed by Victoria Bussert. (Previews at 7:30 Friday, May 4.)

This off-Broadway retro-revue celebrates the women who helped craft the sound of the 1960s, transporting audiences on a nostalgic musical journey back in time. Filled with 40 chart-toppers (and Aqua Net-glistening coiffures), this jukebox celebration of female power (and pipes) features hits from the Supremes, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin and more.